The Rajya Sabha passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 Thursday, allowing investigating officers to acquire biometric information from convicts.
What is The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill 2022 which was passed by Parliament
On Monday, April 4, the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was approved by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. A move by the opposition to refer the Bill to a select committee was defeated in a vote.
The Bill proposes that police officers be allowed to collect fingerprints, palm prints, footprint imprints, pictures, iris and retina scans, physical and biological samples. It also recommends the gathering of behavioural characteristics such as signatures, handwriting, or any other test alluded to in Sections 53 or 53A of the CrPC.
The sampling record must be kept for a duration of 75 years from the date of collection.
Under the current regime, the police are allowed to take fingerprint and footprint impressions of a limited number of convicted and non-convicted individuals.
During today's debate, Congress MP P. Chidambaram called the Bill "dangerous," claiming that it would lead to "involuntary confession" and violated Articles 20 and 21. He said that it disregards the Supreme Court's decisions in Selvi v. State of Karnataka, 2010, which outlawed the administration of Narco Analysis, Polygraph Tests, and Brain Mapping as infringing on privacy. It also runs counter to the decision in.
What does this mean?
The prisoner is brought into police custody, and the necessary biometrics are collected and preserved. Meanwhile, a data search will be performed in the background to see whether any other cases for the specified biometric sample have been recorded. This is exactly like the one seen on western television and in movies.
